Red hair color gallery and advice

Shades of red hair color vary from light strawberry to fiery copper to rich auburn and even deep red violet tones. This page is about helping you get the right red and keep it fresh and gorgeous looking!

Browse the gallery below, which shows a whole spectrum of beautiful reds. Subtle differences in tonal value make each of these shades unique.

Click any image in the gallery below to enlarge and start slideshow. Then use (i) icon for descriptions.

MAKE IT LAST!

Once your hair is colored, maintaining the red pigments becomes the challenge. Red hair color contains the smallest of hair color molecules. Small molecules enter the hair shaft easily, so your hair soaks up the color. They also escape from the hair shaft easily, which means you wash many of them down the drain each time you shampoo. To prevent those elusive red hair color molecules from leaching out, use a pigmented shampoo and conditioner. (see recommendations below) These products deposit color molecules back onto your hair every time you use them. Use the pigmented conditioner every time if necessary, or on occasion.

When not using a color depositing product, make sure your shampoo and conditioner are safe for colored hair. Some cleansers are too harsh, scrubbing your precious pigments right out of the hair shaft! A non-lathering cleanser like DevaCurl No Poo is a great option. It maintains the shine and luster of your color by adding moisture and gently cleansing.

For red/brown tones, mix this conditioner with the Clove conditioner for more depth. Alternatively, for coppery blondes, mix this with the Chamomile conditioner if a lighter red pigment deposit is wanted.

Aveda Clove Conditioner enhances the depth and richness of warm brown tones. Can be mixed with the Chamomile or Madder Root conditioners, shown in the other tabs, to customize for your specific color.

This product is essential for those who are going darker over porous blonde hair. It will help lock in the pigments and keep the color looking shiny and naturally toned, as opposed to the muddy off-tone a color can take over bleached hair.

FOR BEST RESULTS

Tips for achieving a ‘true tone’

Do you color your own hair? If so, you know that achieving the shade of red you want can be difficult. The color you see on the box is NOT necessarily the color you’ll end up with.

Reds are tricky because you’re not starting with a blank (white) canvas. As with any hair coloring process, you’re dealing with the underlying pigment in the hair. With dark hair, that’ll be an orange/red tone — with light hair, it’s yellow.

Adding an identical red hair color formula to either of the above examples of underlying pigment will produce a completely different result. And the volume of peroxide you use will have a great effect on how much lifting and/or depositing your color will do to the hair. So knowing your stuff is key to getting the red you want.

Other considerations

If you’re coloring your hair red, consider having your eyebrows tinted. Many women have ash toned eyebrows, which contrast with the warm, spicy red tones. An esthetician can apply a special eyebrow color formula to just slightly deepen, or warm your eyebrow tone.